


admirable

by magicianprince



Category: Free!
Genre: Drabble, Gen or Pre-Slash, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-24
Updated: 2013-08-24
Packaged: 2017-12-24 11:20:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/939382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicianprince/pseuds/magicianprince
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nitori is five inches below him in height and a year below him in school. He’s taking classes that Rin has taken before. He maintains muscle using a similar training regiment to the one that Rin had used, before he’d shot up to one hundred and seventy-seven centimeters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	admirable

**Author's Note:**

> i meant to take a week-long break while i was on pain medication and recovering from wisdom teeth removal but then this happened. :x

It’s a strange feeling, to be honestly looked up to; as an aspiring Olympic swimmer Rin has, for the most part, been looked down upon, viewed as a simple obstacle, been completely passed over, or been the recipient of the general goodwill that you show someone who has a big dream. He doesn’t blame his peers for seeing him however they want to see him, and he’s always been fine with chasing his dream while keeping himself detached from the people around him. It’s better that way. He can concentrate.

He thinks that the open admiration Nitori shows him is a joke, at first.

Nitori is five inches below him in height and a year below him in school. He’s taking classes that Rin has taken before. He maintains muscle using a similar training regiment to the one that Rin had used, before he’d shot up to one hundred and seventy-seven centimeters. 

So Nitori is strange, and it’s strange how highly he thinks of Rin, but Rin gets used it. He gets used to having a towel handed to him as soon as his body leaves the pool, and of having the most non-obtrusive roommate he’s ever met (Nitori’s disaster area of a desk doesn’t count; Rin had sat him down and organized it with him during the first week they’d roomed together, but it was back to its original state in less than three days), and of having eyes on him that have nothing to do with victory or loss.

Rin wonders if Nitori has a dream.

He asks late at night. It’s dark, and they can’t see each other’s faces. Rin is no coward but it feels safer.

“Why?” is Nitori’s surprised response.

“I know you can’t be happy just watching me,” says Rin, to the bottom of the bunk above him.

“Um,” says Nitori softly. Rin hears the sound of bed sheets rustling. “I don’t know.”

He’s lying, of course. Rin decides to let it go. “Whatever you think up, you’ve got the whole team behind you, you know.” He purposely doesn’t say _you’ve got me behind you_ ; it seems too personal, somehow.

Nitori is silent for a moment, but Rin can tell that he’s pleased by the tone of his voice when he murmurs, “Thank you, senpai.”

He’s going places.

They both are, and Rin is sure of it.


End file.
